City Council revises food van policy

An Adelaide City Councillor conceded it had been hard to develop a policy to cover the city's mobile food vendors.

A council committee has now endorsed revised draft guidelines after some councillors had complained fixed businesses were at a disadvantage.

The latest policy recommends there be 40 permit holders rather than 50.

Councillor Natasha Malani said there was a perception food vans were having a bigger impact on the city than was actually the case.

"It has been tricky because obviously there are some conflicting interests between the food vans and our traditional business owners," she said.

"At the end of the day, our business owners are our ratepayers and ... it's very important that we consider their needs.

"Currently only nine of them (food vans) trade more than three days a week, so we have to be balanced, we have to look at the distribution of the permits, the number of permits; there are a number that have shown interest but whether they'll actually carry through with a permit application now needs to be seen."